Coupe de grâce

Those among the cher public who did not find enough Wagner in their Christmas stockings (or who are still reeling from the recent ROH travesty they called a Bühnenweihfestspiel) will be pleased to hear that our good friends at Opera Depot are currently offering a free download of Parsifal conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch at the 1963 Bayreuth Festival.

“Incompetence, not money, is at the root of Italy’s operatic problems. ‘We spend less on culture than other [European Union] countries, but the main issue is that the money is poorly managed. Italy has kept appointing idiots as intendants [managers], and they’ve been going from opera house to opera house, losing money everywhere, just like prostitutes, who move to a new city before their customers get bored.'”

La cena è ponta! Dinner is served!
“Enlisting the second member of Italy’s trinity, Noseda has teamed up with the the Turin-based restaurant chain EATaly, which serves upscale food during intermissions.”

Totes mcgotes! I absolutely love that idea of turning opera in Italy into dinner theater in kewl venues.

manou

Onta! La cena e pRonta!

manou

è that is…

antikitschychick

Sads :cry:. I hope they can bounce back from this.
Touring, fundraising and marketing via social media are def good strategies to secure better financial funding but firing half the staff and musicians isnt the right approach imho even if it does “balance the books”. The (5 year) advance booking of singers and the booing at la scala of every other major international artist aren’t helping either. The latter is in fact a problem that ( I think) is greatly exacerbating the crisis and should have been something the article addressed. Its not just that singers don’t get paid the fees that they want its that they also run the risk of being booed for all the world to see because of the broadcasts. The artists that dare to go through that sort of ordeal deserve huge props.